The largest prisoner swap between the US and Russia took place on Thursday, with the release of Wall Street Journal columnist Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, both of whom were executives in the US business security community. This global deal, which set completely around two hundred people, was confirmed by authorities in Turkey, where the exchange took place.
According to the Associated Press, the transfer marks the conclusion of years of mysterious back-channel negotiations between Moscow and Washington. Both states were able to accomplish this important agreement despite their relationship levels being at their lowest since the Cold War, which came after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The most recent slave swap agreement reached between Russia and the United States was this one. But, it stands out as the first to require considerable concessions from other countries.
The American prisoners ‘ release cost a lot of money. Russia managed to secure the independence of its nationals, convicted of serious crimes in the West, by trading them for journalists, dissidents, and another Westerners who had been convicted and sentenced under a very political legal structure on charges deemed false by the U. S. authorities.
Details of the deal have not been made public by the White House.
In a statement posted online, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President and CEO Stephen Capus acknowledged reports that columnist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for the journalist, would been released as part of the package. Kurmasheva, a double U. S. Russian citizen, was convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian defense, charges her household and company have strongly denied.
Capus expressed his relief and gratitude by expressing that Alsu’s immediate release was a “welcome news” and that the American government and all those who worked hard to put an end to her unfair treatment by Russia were” we pleased.”
This most recent swap follows another major exchanges that have occurred recently. In trade for infamous hands smuggler Viktor Bout, WNBA star Brittney Griner was traded back to the United States in December 2022. Earlier that month, Marine former Trevor Reed was swapped for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian aircraft convicted in a drug trafficking crime.
As part of the transfer, Russia secured the transfer of Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of murdering a previous Chechen rebel in a Berlin area in 2019, reportedly on purchases from Moscow’s protection services.
On a reporting excursion to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains on March 29, 2023, Gershkovich was detained. He was unconfirmed by Russian regulators for obtaining unwarranted information about the American citizen Gershkovich, the brother of Russian immigrants who settled in New Jersey. He immigrated to Russia in 2017 to operate for The Moscow Times before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2022.
His pretrial detention additions and appeals for his launch were the subject of many finished hearings during his arrest. No further common provides have been made as of yet, despite U.S. authorities ‘ previous offer to swap things last year that was rejected by Russia.
Paul Whelan, detained in December 2018 while attending a ceremony in Russia, was convicted of espionage fees. The fees were false, according to both Whelan and the United States. He is now serving a 16-year jail sentence, which included past, well-known offers.
